Have I ever mentioned that purple is my favorite color? I find the color exhilarating and like plants that bear purple fruits and vegetables, including tomatillos.

Our tomatillo plants were slow this year along with everything else in the garden. The extended cold, wet spring put a damper on things, making everything slow to grow and blossom. We finally harvested some tomatillos a few weeks ago, much later than last year, and with the early cold snap this week we didn’t get much of a growing season at all. All we can do is preserve what we have and hope for better next year.

This was our second year for growing tomatillos, and we planted two green and two purple, both of which took off in late July and shot up to about nine feet tall. The purple tomatillo fruits are generally smaller than the green, with shades ranging from bright amethyst to almost black.

The interiors are only slightly lighter in color than the exterior, and the salsa is a brilliant purple.

When the cold snap hit this week we started pulling things off the plants, hoping to save as much as possible. The tomatillos stopped producing but still have hundreds of little paper lanterns hanging from the four plants. Fortunately they stand up to cold better than tomatoes and peppers, so we have a little time to finish the harvest. We’ll roast the rest, make them into salsa, and freeze it for the winter. I don’t like to process salsa because it tastes cooked rather than fresh, but I do recommend using the salsa within a couple months before it gets freezer burn and loses flavor.

Roasting the tomatillos is easy, just spread them out onto a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil and cook under the broiler until they char, about 6 to 8 minutes. Once roasted, the tomatillos can be thrown into a blender with your own blend of chiles, cilantro, garlic, onion, limes, whatever sounds good, and you’ll have roasted tomatillo salsa. This works with either the green or purple tomatillos, and we make both. This year the tomatillos, garlic, and serrano chiles all came from our garden.

This is my contribution to Grow Your Own, a blogging event that celebrates the dishes we create from foods we’ve grown, raised, foraged, or hunted ourselves. I am the host for this final event of 2009, and you can send your post information to me at andreasrecipesgyo AT gmail DOT com. Posts are due on October 30. Grow Your Own is taking a winter break this year while we tend to some family matters, but we’ll be back in the spring ready for more fun. If you would like to host in 2010, please drop me a note. If you are new to the event, you can read more about the rules for participating and find the links to previous events at the Grow Your Own page.

OVEN-ROASTED TOMATILLO SALSA

Makes about 24 ounces/710 ml.

Equipment

baking sheet lined with heavy duty aluminum foil
blender

Ingredients

3 pounds (1.4 k) tomatillos, color of your choice, husked and rinsed
1/2 medium onion, quartered (red for purple tomatillos, white for green tomatillos)
1 fresh chile, stemmed (serrano or jalapeno work well)
3 cloves garlic, peeled
handful of cilantro leaves and tiny stems, rinsed and patted dry
1/2 lime, juiced

Preparation

1. Spread the tomatillos out on the lined baking sheet stem side down. Place under broiler until charred, about 6 to 8 minutes. Some will crack and release juice, and that’s ok. Add tomatillos and juice to the blender jar.

2. On a dry skillet, toast the onion, chile, and garlic, turning until charred on all sides. Add to the blender jar. (Note: Remove the seeds of the chile if you want a milder salsa.)

3. Add the cilantro and lime juice to the blender jar. Blend all for a few seconds. Pour into a large bowl and serve, or pour into jars and refrigerate for up to 1 week. Can also freeze in plastic containers. I use the Ball Plastic Freezer Jars.

More Grow Your Own Recipes

More Tomatillo Recipes From Around the Blogs

Simply Recipes – Tomatillo Chicken Stew

Cookworm – Chickpea and Tomatillo Soup

What’s Cooking? – Mexican Tomatillo Rice

Kalyn’s Kitchen – Grilled Halibut with Southwestern Rub and Tomatillo Salsa

Thanks for reading Andrea’s Recipes through a feed! Copyright © 2005-2009 Andrea’s Recipes.

I recently acquired a copy of Rosa’s New Mexican Table (review) and having heard of the restaurant and the book’s James Beard Award nomination in 2008 I was eager to try out some of the dishes from Chef Roberto Santibañez. One of the first dishes that caught my eye was the adobo marinated chicken with spicy guajillo chiles and chiles de arbol. An adobo sauce is bright red from the chiles and the meat is either simmered in the sauce or marinated and grilled. Common chiles for adobo include ancho, guajillo, and chipotle, though in this recipe chiles de arbol are added for extra heat. In the DC area you can find dried chiles at Hispanic grocery stores, some of the larger international grocery stores such as Grand Mart, Shoppers Food Warehouse, and some other grocery chains.

The chiles de arbol pack a punch, and since this dish was served to my boys, I went easy on the heat and removed the seeds before mixing the marinade. We thought the chicken had a lot of flavor, but Michael missed the heat so next time I’ll prepare two batches of the marinade, one with the seeds just for him.

The bright color of the marinade transfers to the chicken, lending a spectacular redness to the chicken. The meat has a lot of flavor and works well in tacos, fajitas, quesadillas, or on top of salads. This makes a great weeknight dish because you can get the chicken marinating the night before then grill it quickly for dinner the next day, and it has enough panache for a weekend party. Squirt a little lime over the grilled chicken and it’s ready to go.

GRILLED ADOBO CHICKEN (POLLO ADOBADO)

Adapted from Rosa’s New Mexican Table, by Roberto Santibañez. (review)

Makes enough marinade for 1 pound of chicken.

Equipment

cast-iron skillet
blender
meat mallet
plastic zipper bag (or shallow pan covered with plastic)
grill or grill pan

Ingredients

2 guajillo chiles, wiped clean, stemmed, seeded
2 chiles de arbol, wiped clean (leave seeds intact), or less to taste
3 large garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1/4 (60 ml) cup water
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 pound (450 g) boneless skinless chicken breast
salt

ACCOMPANIMENTS
lime wedges
soft tortillas (for tacos or fajitas)
refried beans
guacamole
cilantro
shredded white queso
tomatillo salsa (salsa verde)
red salsa

Preparation

1. In the dry skillet, toast the chiles on each side. Lightly toast the guajillo chiles and toast well the chiles de arbol (with the seeds).

2. Put all the chiles, garlic, cumin seeds, cloves, oregano, water, and cider vinegar into the blender. Blend at low speed until smooth.

3. With the meat mallet, pound each chicken breast until about 3/4-inch (2 cm) thick. Rub the breasts with salt and put into the bag. Pour the adobo marinade over the chicken, seal, and turn the bag a few times to make sure the chicken is evenly coated. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour or refrigerate for up to 1 day.

4. Heat a gas grill to medium-high or prepare a hot charcoal fire.

5. Grill the chicken for about 10 minutes, until it is cooked through and charred in places. Remove to a platter, cover with foil, and allow to stand about 5 minutes before serving.

More Grilled Chicken Recipes

More Mexican Chicken Recipes From Around the Blogs

What’s Cooking? – Chicken Legs in Achiote Sauce

Simply Recipes – Chicken Pozole

Gastronomy – Mexican Chicken Pozole Verde

We Heart Food – Chicken Machaca and Mexican Red Rice

Thanks for reading Andrea’s Recipes through a feed! Copyright © 2005-2009 Andrea’s Recipes.

Roasted Green Tomatillo Salsa

Roasted Tomatillo Jalapeno Salsa with Avocado

Guacamole (not spicy)

Tequila Lime Chicken

Grilled Fish Tacos with Mango-Avocado Salsa

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Sangria

White Sangria

Rhubarb Margarita (I realize this one is a stretch, but try it!)

Mango-Lime Ice (Nieve de Mango con Limon)

Thanks for reading Andrea’s Recipes through a feed! Copyright © 2005-2009 Andrea’s Recipes.

Creamy with a kick is what comes to mind when I dip tortillas or lavash into this salsa.

The September Daring Bakers challenge required the members to make both lavash and a dip or other condiment to serve with it, and considering our abundance of tomatillos and jalapeños coupled with my utter devotion to avocados, the choice was an easy one. I wanted to make it a little spicier than the previous version to help balance the rich creaminess of the avocado, so we roasted four of our homegrown jalapeños with the intent that we could use them all if necessary, but three seemed to be just right.

It comes together pretty quickly, and I had a batch ready in time for appetizers on a week night. Michael enjoyed it so much he had it for breakfast the next morning, spread all over an omelet and topped with mixed cheeses.

This recipe makes about four cups of salsa.

More Recipes You Might Like

More Tomatillo and Avocado Recipes From Around the Blogs

Cafe Lynnlu – Three Salsas

We Are Never Full – Shredded Chicken Sopes with Tomatillo-Avocado Salsa

What’s Cooking? – Pasta Gone Green

Karina’s Kitchen – Joey’s Kicked Up Rockin Guacamole

Equipment

large skillet, lined with foil (for easy clean up)
blender

Ingredients

8 medium tomatillos
3 or 4 red jalapeños
2 avocados, cut into chunks
large handful of cilantro, leaves and stems
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (optional)
salt, to taste

Preparation

1. Place the halved tomatillos and the whole garlic clove in the large skillet lined with foil. Set the skillet over medium heat and and dry roast for about 3 to 4 minutes per side. The tomatillos should be soft and blotchy and the garlic will be browned. Transfer the roasted tomatillos and garlic to the blender.

2. Dry roast the jalapeños in the skillet, until the skin blisters. Remove the the heat and slice down the middle, removing the seeds and membrane. Add to the blender along with the avocado chunks and cilantro. Blend until you have a smooth consistency. Taste and add lime juice if desired and blend again. Pour into a serving bowl.

3. Rinse the chopped onion and stir into the salsa. Add salt to taste and serve. Makes about 4 cups of salsa.

Thanks for reading Andrea’s Recipes through a feed! Copyright © 2005-2009 Andrea’s Recipes.

We didn’t expect our tomatillo plants to grow as large as they did, and Michael was downright skeptical when I brought them home.

M: “What kind of tomato is this?”

A: “It’s a tomatillo, not a tomato, and we’re going to try growing some this year.”

M: “What do you use them for?”

A: “Good Mexican salsa.”

M: “Whatever you want, Sweet Pea.” Thankfully he enjoys Mexican food and he’s very flexible about my garden and kitchen experiments.

Unknown to me at the time, I needed at least two tomatillos planted close to each other so they could cross-pollinate, and luckily the small pot I purchased had two plants in it, so we were set. I put them in the row alongside the grape tomatoes and then watched and waited.

They grew pretty quickly and it seems like they shot up to about nine feet (~3 meters) tall overnight. The blossoms showed up in July and seemed to hang around forever before we finally saw some little fruits sprouting. I checked it every day, watching for ripened tomatillos.

The fruits are ready when they fill the husk, and the fruit is harvested while still green. If it’s yellow, the fruit has started losing it’s tart flavor. You can preserve the tomatillos whole, just toss them into a large freezer bag. If freezer space is at a premium, you can slice them before freezing, though the fruits will lose some of their nutrients this way.

We’re doing a little bit of everything with these beauties: making fresh salsa, canning salsa, and freezing some whole for the winter. The flavor is bright and Michael and the boys thoroughly enjoy this fresh, easy salsa from Rick Bayless. It’s great as an appetizer with tortilla chips and arepas (though not Mexican) or spooned over tacos and fajitas.

This is my contribution to Grow Your Own, a blogging event that celebrates the dishes we create from foods we’ve grown, raised, foraged, or hunted ourselves. Our host for this round is Denise of Chez Us, and the deadline for posts is September 30. Make sure you visit Chez Us for more information on how to participate in this round, and also check out the Grow Your Own page for more information about the event.

Other Recipes You Might Like

More Tomatillo Recipes From Around the Blogs

Kalyn’s Kitchen – Tomatillo and Black Bean Salsa with Avocado, Lime, and Cilantro

What Did You Eat? – Chicken and Tomatillo Stew

The Kitchen Sink – Grilled Tomatillo and Corn Salad

A Veggie Venture – Guacamole with Tomatillos

Equipment

large skillet lined with foil (for easy cleanup)
blender

Ingredients

4 medium (about 8 ounces/227 g total), tomatillos, husked, rinsed and halved
2 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 – 2 jalapeño chilies, stemmed and roughly chopped
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 small white onion, finely chopped
salt to taste

Preparation

1. Place the halved tomatillos and the whole garlic clove in the large skillet lined with foil. Set the skillet over medium heat and and dry roast for about 3 to 4 minutes per side. The tomatillos should be soft and blotchy and the garlic will be browned.

2. Transfer the roasted tomatillos and garlic to the blender. Add the jalapenos and cilantro. Blend until you have a smooth consistency. Pour into a serving bowl.

3. Rinse the chopped onion and stir into the salsa. Add salt to taste and serve.

References

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/tomatillos.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomatillo

http://whatscookingamerica.net/tomatillos.htm

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/tips/summer/preserving_tomatillos.html

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Source: adapted from Rick Bayless

Thanks for reading Andrea’s Recipes through a feed! Copyright © 2005-2009 Andrea’s Recipes.

I wish I could come home after picking up the kids from school and have time to cook a nice meal. I long for a calm, zen-like cooking experience each day, but instead I find myself chasing after my sons who prefer to run amok, trying to keep them from raiding the refrigerator and the pantry even though I fed them a snack as soon as we got home. We had to put locks on to keep the Three Amigos from eating us out of house and home. Yesterday’s meal was supposed to happen on Monday, but the events of the day and the constant distractions left me disorganized and frustrated at dinner time and I pulled out some leftover pasta sauce and boiled some spaghetti. Now there’s nothing wrong with that, and in fact spaghetti with tomato sauce and/or meatballs is Michael’s favorite meal, but I had a grilling recipe up my sleeve for Cinco de Mayo which I had to grudgingly postpone.

I thought I could start some of the prep for dinner on Tuesday morning, but Monday night we remembered Top Gun, our three-year-old, had a project due for school the next day and I needed to finish some prep work on that before we could do it in the morning. So Tuesday morning was spent cutting photos and pasting them memory-book style onto a piece of paper describing his favorite things, and then we wrote our story about Spike’s visit (Spike is the class mascot, a stuffed kangaroo) and pasted more pictures onto that story.

After dropping the boys off at school I did a little dance in my head thinking our toddler would go down for his afternoon nap and I could do all my prep work, but that was optimistic on my part. For the second day in a row he refused to take a nap and I ended up with a cranky toddler for the afternoon. I hope he doesn’t give up naps early like his oldest brother!

Michael was late getting off work and the boys demanded my total attention for the rest of the day, so I finally tossed a burger and some dogs on the grill for them and saved the fish tacos for a quiet dinner just for the two of us after we got the Three Amigos to bed! We grilled in the dark, talking about our day and the refrigerator that isn’t working and debated whether to repair or replace. Mundane conversation, perhaps, but relaxing nonetheless, and it was time we had to ourselves. Michael said he loved the tacos and the salsa, and the cold beer with a lime wedge tasted pretty good after a busy day.

P.S. Don’t forget about the Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas cookbook give away! Visit the original post to enter. The deadline is Sunday May 11 at 6 pm EST.

GRILLED FISH TACOS WITH MANGO-AVOCADO SALSA

Equipment

grill
grill wok or skillet (Thanks for the Christmas present, Mom & Dad!), coated with cooking spray
medium bowl or a one gallon plastic zip bag
3 medium serving bowls
liquid measuring cup

Ingredients

3 mahi mahi fillets, cut into chunks
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

SLAW
2 cups red cabbage, sliced thin
5 or 6 green onions, sliced thin
1/4 cup light sour cream
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

SALSA
1 mango, cut into small chunks
1 avocado, cut into small chunks
1 jalapeño, finely diced
1 red onion, finely diced
3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
2 limes, juiced

THE EXTRAS
tortillas, corn or flour
1 red pepper, sliced thin
Monterrey jack cheese, shredded

Preparation

1. Preheat the grill.

2. FISH: Stir together the spices and toss with the fish in the bowl or the zipper bag. Set aside.

3. SLAW: In the serving bowl, toss together the sliced cabbage and onions. Measure the cider vinegar in the measuring cup and add the sour cream and salt. Stir until thoroughly mixed, then pour over the cabbage and onions, and stir until the vegetables are evenly coated.

4. SALSA: In the serving bowl, toss together the mango, avocado, jalapeño, onion, and cilantro. Squeeze the limes over the bowl and stir gently.

5. GRILL: Pour the spiced fish into the lightly greased grill skillet/wok and cook over medium heat for about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally for even cooking. Fish should be slightly firm and opaque when finished.

6. SERVE: Layer your tacos in this order: Slaw, red peppers, fish, salsa, cheese. Enjoy with a cold Corona and lime.

Do you like this recipe? Here are a few others you might like!

Mango-Lime Ice (Nieve de Mango con Limon)

Frozen Mango Dessert

Sangria for Cinco de Mayo

Key Lime Pie

Thanks for reading Andrea’s Recipes through a feed! Copyright © 2005-2009 Andrea’s Recipes.